Armenia has refused to pay its contributions to the budget of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for the past year, the country's Foreign Ministry said on March 31, after suspending its participation in the military alliance in August 2024.
"Armenia refrains from signing the decision 'On the CSTO budget for 2024' and, accordingly, from participating in financing the organization's activities," a statement from the Foreign Ministry read.
The decision comes as the latest in a series of steps the country has taken to distance itself from the Russian-led security alliance.
The CSTO, established in 2002, includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Russia is by far the most powerful member of the alliance.
The decision comes as earlier this year Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia had suspended its participation in the CSTO "at all levels." Armenia first announced it would not the bloc's financing in May 2024.
Armenia has had a historically close relationship with Russia, especially vis-a-vis its primary regional foe Azerbaijan, and has thus largely refrained from getting involved in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
The calculus changed after Russian "peacekeepers" failed to prevent Azerbaijan's offensive into the Nagorno-Karabakh region, primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, in September 2023.
Disappointed with Russia and fearing renewed hostilities with Baku, Yerevan has turned West for new partnerships.
On March 26, the Armenian parliament passed a bill "On starting the process of accession of the Republic of Armenia to the European Union" in its second and final reading, though the South Caucasus country is yet to submit a EU membership application.
In late January, then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed a strategic partnership commission charter between the U.S and Armenia, establishing a framework for expanded bilateral cooperation in the areas of economic cooperation, security and defense, and democracy, among others.
Despite not submitted a statement regarding the suspension of the country's membership, Pashinyan said that his country's return to the CSTO was "increasingly more difficult if not impossible."
Martin Fornusek
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